Times are changing with legacy media – as they were very much in the Joe Biden camp. No, I mean really changing from the span of Tuesday to Friday of last week.
Could the media be turning on Joe Biden?
Press Conference from … for Karine Jean-Pierre
Friday’s White House press briefing marked what was almost surely Karine Jean-Pierre’s toughest day on the job. Mainstream media reporters might conform to a lefty worldview. But no one likes to be played for fools for years. The dam finally broke.
The best she could do when the press corps raised the temperature in the briefing room was to keep repeating, “The White House counsel has dealt with this.”
Don’t find too much fault with her. Why would she be ready to spar? She’s gotten a free ride as few reporters would really challenge the administration’s narrative – until now.
Hunter Biden was a Fox News story that the New York Times, CNN, and company wouldn’t touch–other than maybe for the occasional “Republicans Pounce” headline.
Last Tuesday, the Justice Department reached a plea agreement with President Joe Biden’s son in what could only be called a sweetheart deal. MSNBC, CNN, and the other networks all but celebrated the deal as a victory and a sigh of relief, as the media didn’t even have to pretend to cover Biden’s corruption any longer.
Then, on Thursday afternoon, the House Ways and Means Committee released transcripts of testimony from IRS whistleblowers that exposed just how rotten the Biden administration’s Justice Department was. This included a text message that seemed to incriminate “the big guy,” or Joe Biden.
“I am sitting here with my father and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled,” Hunter Biden wrote in a text message to a Chinese business associate demanding payment, according to documents released by the House committee. “Tell the director that I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of hand, and now means tonight.”
Media Jumps on the Developed Story
This comes after weeks of non-coverage of revelations that an FBI informant determined that an executive with the Ukraine energy company Burisma paid a $5 million bribe to Joe Biden and another $5 million to Hunter Biden. That’s in addition to the 20 shell companies where members of the Biden family had collected about $10 million from mostly foreign entities and individuals, discovered by the House Oversight and Accountability Committee.
Enough mainstream media outlets apparently just didn’t want to believe this or rationalized that it didn’t impact the president, so it shouldn’t be covered.
But in this case, one of the whistleblowers, Gary Shapley, is a 14-year IRS veteran who led the agency’s investigation into Hunter and found plenty of potential for links to Joe Biden. It was Hunter’s own text that created a bigger problem.
At first, James Rosen–formerly of Fox and now Newsmax–asked about the Hunter Biden text from the White House national security spokesman John Kirby. Kirby just answered. “I’m not going to comment further on this.”
At that, Kirby left, handing it off to Jean-Pierre.
Jeremy Diamond at CNN–of all outlets–asked, “The president invited his son, Hunter, to the state dinner last night. I’m wondering if you could take us into the thinking and decision-making of why the president decided to invite his son.”
KJP, ducked, “I’m just not going to get into a family discussion, personal family discussion.”
Diamond followed, “If Hunter Biden wasn’t the president’s son, would he have invited someone who just reached a plea agreement with federal prosecutors two days earlier?” Maybe that was a silly question since Hunter is Joe’s son. So, you might give KJP some leeway in responding, “He’s a family member; it’s not unusual for family members to attend events at the White House.”
Where the press secretary is wrong was calling this a “family discussion.”
That’s where Peter Baker—of believe-it-or-not The New York Times—chimed in to press on the more important matter–Biden family influence peddling.
“It’s not an unreasonable question to ask if the President of the United States was involved, as this message seems to suggest, in some sort of coercive conversation of business dealings by his son. If he wasn’t, maybe you should tell us,” Baker said.
The best KJP could do was say: “Here’s the thing; I appreciate the question. I believe my colleague at the White House Counsel has answered this question already, has dealt with this and made it very clear. I just don’t have anything to share outside of what my colleagues have shared. And, so, I would refer you to him and the DOJ. I’m just not going to comment from here.”
More reporters followed, and she kept responding with some variation of griping, “I just answered the question by telling you that my colleagues at the White House counsel have dealt with this, and I would refer you to them.”
The problem–as some reporters in the room shouted out–the White House counsel’s office never commented on the whistleblower testimony.
On the day the Justice Department announced the deal with Hunter, White House counsel’s office spokesman Ian Sams said only, “The President and First Lady love their son and support him as he continues to rebuild his life. We will have no further comment.”
On Friday, after the tumultuous presser, Sams issued another statement only asserting past denials that the White House had no role in how the case ended and that President Biden has no ties to his son’s business operations.
During the KJP briefing though, one reporter asked, “Have you spoken to the president about this? Have you asked him whether he was there with his son on July 30, 2017?”
Jean-Pierre answered: “This is not a conversation that I’ve had with the president. Again, I would refer you to the White House counsel.”
It’s probably a good thing. In some cases, it’s better for a press secretary to know as little as possible.
There was a brief time when outlets such as the New York Times and the New Yorker had major stories about the Joe and Hunter Biden international conflict of interest racket. When Democrats made the media’s boogeyman Donald Trump’s desire to investigate Hunter an impeachable offense–the mainstream media had a blackout of coverage.
After Joe was safely elected, the new spin was that Hunter was an addict that spun out of control and it had nothing to do with Joe. Hunter was following in the footsteps of the rest of Joe’s family.
All roads lead back to “The Big Guy.”
Barbara Joanna Lucas is a writer and researcher in Northern Virginia. She has been a healthcare professional, political blogger, is a proud dog mom, and news junkie. Follow her on Twitter @BasiaJL.
From 19FortyFive
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